Advertising sign



July 9, 1957 J. N. M. ROCA ADVERTISING SIGN Filed March 31, 1955 A vINVENTOR.

United States ADVERTISING SIGN Juan Nicolas Marcelino Roea, Montevideo,Uruguay Application March 31, 1955, Serial No. 498,393

4 Claims. (Cl. 40'-33) tent movement is achieved by means of eitherelectrical or mechanical switches which interrupt, during a suitabletime, the driving movement of the motor operatingthe prismatic bodies.These switches are usually expensive and complicated in structure, sothat they easily get damaged or they may operate the advertising sign inan unsatisfactory manner. I

The present invention on. the other hand, enables to change thepropaganda surfaces periodically without stopping the motor and therebythe use of complicated switches is avoided and furthermore theadditional advantage of controlling the time of exposure of eachpropaganda surface is easily and simply achieved.

Thus, this invention relates to an advertising sign comprising a frame,at least two prismatic bodies having at least two propaganda surfacesand a shaft for rotation for each prismatic body, each prismatic bodybeing rotatably mounted in said frame by means of the shafts,controlling means for rotating said prismatic bodies, said controllingmeans comprising a movable carriage, a guide having two ends, saidcarriage being slidably mounted on said guide, a pair of screw-threadedmembers rotatably mounted in said frame and substantially parallellyarranged to said guide, a bridge mounted on said carriage, two armsconnected to said bridge and adapted to mesh with said screw-threadedmembers, driving means for driving said screw-threaded members inopposite directions, a pair of switching cams arranged at each end ofsaid guide said bridge being adapted to alternatively mesh one of saidarms with one of said screw-threaded members in reply to said switchingcams, and controlling means integral with at least one of said arms forrotating said prismatic bodies.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an advertising signwhich drives its prismatic bodies intermittently without having to stopthe motor, whereby switches of the above referred to type becomeunnecessary. I

Another objectof the present invention is to provide an advertising signwhich enables to maintain the different propaganda surfaces visible tothe observer during a period of time which may be varied at will.

These and further objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent during the course of the following description, inwhich by way of example a single embodiment has been shown.

In the drawings: I I I Figure l is aside elevation in section of theadvertising sign in accordance withthe present-invention.

atent M 2,798,319 Patented July 9, 1957 Figure 2 is a perspective view,partially in section, of the advertising sign shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a detail of the mounting of one arm with regard to thebridge.

As may be seen in Figure 1, the advertising-sign includes twoscrew-threaded members 1 and 2 parallelly and rotatably mounted inpartitions 3' of frame 3. Between said screw-threaded members 1 and 2,cylindrical guides 4 and 5 are arranged, supported at their respectiveend portions by partitions 3. A carriage 6 is slidably mounted on saidguides 4 and 5.

A bridge 8 is pivotally mounted on shaft 7 supported by said carriage 6.The lower end 9 of said bridge 8 is linked by means of a pin 10 to rod11 and urged by spring 11', coiled on said rod 11, so that said bridgeis forced to adopt one of two end positions, both inclined with regardto the plane passing through the guides 4and 5 (in a similar way aselectric switches).

Said bridge 8 comprises a pair of arms 13 and 14 pivotally mountedthereon by means of pivots 15.

With the exception that arm 13 has a projection 16 including a rack 16',both arms are of similar construction and have threaded recesses 17 ofthe same pitch as the respective screw-threaded members with whichthey'may mesh.

A spring 18 is coiled on each pivot 15 (see Figure 3) which tends toforce the arms 13 and 14, respectively, towards the correspondingscrew-threaded member, in order to provide a better mesh. A pair ofstops 19 controllable by means of screws 19 are provided, in order toprevent the springs 18 from forcing the arms farther down than desired,and more particularly, as will be better understood later on, to preventone arm from remaining in mesh with its screw-threaded member, when theother arm becomes operative.

The rack 16 of projection 16 is so arranged that it is capable ofmeshing with gears 20 mounted on shafts 21' of the prismatic bodies 21,when arm 13 is in mesh with screw-threaded member 1. Shafts 21 arerotatably supported by frame 3 as is well known in the art, andobviously each of these shafts furthermore supports its prismatic body21.

The upper end 22 of bridge 7 rotatably supports a free wheel 23 by meansof shaft 24. Said wheel 23 is so arranged that it is capable of enteringin contact with each of a pair of switching earns 25 and 26 of rightangle triangular shape rigidly connected to partitions 3'.

An electric motor 27 transmits its movement by means of worm 28 to Wormwheel 29 mounted on screw-threaded member 1 which further supports gear36. Another gear 31 is mounted on screw-threaded member 2 and mesheswith gear 30; thus, screw-threaded members 1 and 2 will rotate inopposite directions.

As to the operation of the advertising sign, it will be understood thatupon rotating screw-threaded member 1, the carriage 6 will be moved inone or the opposite direction depending on which ofarms 13 or 14 is inmesh; in other words if it is presumed that bridge 8 is inclined towardsscrew-threaded member 1, arm '13 will mesh with the former and thecarriage 6 will be moved, whereby rack 16 will successively rotate thegears 2i} and thereby the primatic bodies 21 will likewise be rotated.

I When the carriage 6 has reached the end of its stroke, that is to saywhen all the prismatic bodies 21 have been rotated, the free wheel 23enters progressively in contact with the inclined actuating face ofswitching cam 25 which will swing the bridge towards screw-threadedmember 2 which, due to-the fact that it rotates in opposite direction toscrew-threaded member 1, starts to move carriage 6 in opposite directiontowards its starting point.

Duringthe return stroke arm 13 is raisedto the maxithat rack 16' willnot mesh with gears 20 and thus during the return stroke the prismaticbodies will not be rotated.

' As soon as the'carriage 6 reaches the starting point, the switchingcam 26 will inclinethe bridge 8 towards'the screw-threaded member 1,whereby the abovedescribed cycle will be repeated.

Whenthe prismatic bodies 21 are oftriangular cross section, the rack16"should comprise a number of teeth equal to one third of' the numberof teeth of gears 20 in order that a rotation of 120 is achieved andthereby each of the propaganda surfaces are successively visible to theobserver. V i 1 Screw-threaded member '2 may have the same pitch or adifferent pitch than screw-threaded member 1 so that in the latterevent, if desired, the return stroke may for instance be carried outfaster.

I Evidently it is possible to provide arm 14 also with a rack of thetype of rack 16 if a bilateral advertising apparatus is desired. i

Furthermore if the rotation ofthe prismatic bodies should besimultaneous, it is possible to provide just one of the prismatic bodies21 with a gear 20, adapted to mesh with rack 16' whilst the remainingprismatic bodies 21 are driven by a gear and chain arrangement as iswell known in the art. (See for instance U. S. Patent No. 1,346,488 orthe equivalent British Patent 166,418.)

In this event obviously the driving arrangement hereinbefore describedwill be of very small size since rack 16' has to operate only one gear20.

It must be added that the embodiment shown in Figure 1 provides anarrangement in which the total height of the five prismatic bodies isconsiderably smaller than that of the screw-threaded members 1 and 2 sothat if desired, a larger amount of prismatic bodies may be provided, inorder to increase the surface of the advertising space.

I claim:

1. An advertising sign comprising a frame, at least two prismatic bodieshaving at least two propaganda surfaces, a shaft integral with each ofsaid prismatic bodies and rotatably housed in said frame, controllingmeans for rotating said prismatic bodies, said controlling meanscomprising a movable carriage, a guide having two ends supported by saidframe, said carriage being slidably mounted on said guide, a pair ofscrew-threaded members rotatably mounted in said frame and parallellyarranged to said guide, a bridge swingably mounted on said carriage andadapted to adopt either of two end positions inclined with regard to theplane passing through said pair of screw-threaded members, two armsmounted on said bridge, said arms being adapted to mesh with saidscrewthreaded members, driving means for driving saidpair ofscrew-threaded members in opposite directions, a pair of switching camsarranged at each end of said guide and supported by said frame, saidbridge being adapted to alternatively mesh one of said arms with one ofsaid screw-threaded members in reply to said switching cams, andconnecting means on one of said arms adapted to cooperate with saidprismatic body shafts, whereby step-bystep rotation of said prismaticbodies is effected.

2. An advertising sign comprising a frame, at least two prismatic bodieshaving at least two propaganda surfaces, a shaft integral with each ofsaid prismatic bodies and rotatably housed in said frame, controllingmeans for rotating said prismatic bodies, said controlling meanscomprising a movable carriage, a guide having two ends supported by saidframe, said carriage being slidably mounted on said guide, a pair ofscrew-threaded members rotatably mounted in said frame and parallellyarranged to said guide, a bridge swingably mounted on said carriage andadapted to adopt either of two end positions inclined with regard to theplane passing through said pair of screw-threaded members, two armspivotally mounted on said bridge and being adapted to mesh with saidscrew- 3 to said switchingcams, and connecting means on one of 7prismatic bodies having at least two propaganda surfaces,

a shaft integral with each of said prismatic bodies and I0- tatablyhoused in said frame, controlling means for rotating saidprismatic'bodies, said controlling means comprising a movable carriage,a guide having two ends supported by said frame, said carriage beingslidably mounted on said guide, a pair of screw-threaded membersrotatably mounted in said frame and parallelly arranged to said guide, abridge swingably mounted on said carriage and adapted to adopt either oftwo end positions inclined with regard to the plane passing through saidpair of screw-threaded members, two arms pivotally mounted on saidbridge and adapted to mesh with said screw-threaded members, resilientmeans urging said arms into contact with said screw-threaded members,controllable stops capable of controlling said resilient means, drivingmeans for driving said pair of screw-threaded members in oppositedirections, a pair of switching cams arranged at each end of said guideand supported by said frame, said bridge being adapted to alternativelymesh one of said arms with one of said screw-threaded members in replyto said switching cams, and connecting means comprising a rack integralwith one of said arms, at least one gear rigidly mounted on oneprismatic body shaft, said rack of said arm being adapted to mesh withsaid gear to rotate said prismatic body.

, 4. An advertising sign comprising a frame, at least two prismaticbodies of triangular cross-section having at least two propagandasurfaces, a shaft integral with each of said prismatic bodies androtatably housed in said frame, controlling means for rotating saidprismatic bodies, said controlling means comprising a movable carriage,a guide having two ends supported by said frame, said carriage beingslidably mounted on said guide, a pair of screwthreaded membersrotatably mounted in said frame and parallelly arranged to said guide, abridge swingably mounted on said carriage and adapted to adopt either oftwo end positions inclined with regard to the plane passing through saidpair of screw-threaded members, two arms pivotally mounted on saidbridge and being adapted to mesh with said screw-threaded members,resilient means urging said arms into contact with said screwthreadedmembers, driving means for driving said pair of screw-threaded membersin opposite directions, a pair of switching cams arranged at each end ofsaid guide and supported by said frame, said bridge being adapted toalternatively mesh one of said arms with one of said screwthreadedmembers in reply to said switching cams, and connecting means comprisinga rack integral with one of said arms, at least one gear mounted on oneshaft of one of said prismatic bodies and being adapted to mesh withsaid rack, the number of teeth of said rack being one third of thenumber of teeth of said gear.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS876,570 Lundgren Jan. 14, 1908 1,091,486 Cutler Mar. 31, 1914 1,166,515Floessell Jan. 4, 1916 1,711,528 Gurevich et al. May 7, 1929 1,811,720Kaulfman June 23, 1931

